Rest for the Weary
by SailorYue
Summary: Aziraphale lost track of the time and completely missed their date. Crowley's solution? Take the angel home.


It had been a very long day. Aziraphale sighed wearily, flipping the closed sign on his door and locking it. He didn't really know why he had decided to participate in a midnight release, but it brought good music to the shop which needed some repair. Even though Adam had reset it to normal, perhaps it would be best to up the fire codes so another fire doesn't happen. And selling the newest book of a famous author was the way to do it. Other than reinforcing it with a miracle of course, which he wasn't going to be spending any unnecessary magic on. He looked around and saw to fixing placement of several of the books that had been moved around to where they belonged. Miraculously it wasn't too much of a mess.

He worked his way to the back of the shop, turning down the lights and preparing for some relief. Perhaps tomorrow he would keep the shop closed. He had never pulled a nearly 24 hour shift on his shop.

"Long day, angel?" A voice called to him from the corner, causing Aziraphale to spin around. He smiled when he saw his dear friend Crowley lounging on the couch staring at him, glasses clipped to his shirt.

"Crowley! Yes actually, it quite was. Have you been waiting very long?"

The demon quirked his eyebrow. "Oh, not too long really. No more than what I'm used to."

"That's good. Can I get you something to drink?" Aziraphale looked at the small clock on the nearby shelf. "It's too late to go anywhere, I'm sure the Ritz is- OH MY HEAVENS OUR DATE!" Aziraphale looked distraught at Crowley. "I completely lost track of the time! I'm terribly sorry, my dear I-"

Crowley held up his hand to cut him off. "It's ok, angel. I figured there had to be a reasonable reason for you to lose track of time. I'm more patient than you give me credit for." Considering he had waited six thousand years to be free to be together, a few extra hours wasn't the end of the world.

"You MUST let me make it up to you!" Aziraphale pleaded.

Crowley got up, stretching and put his glasses back on. "Let me take you back to my place. It's been far too long since you've been there, and we can have a nice meal there."

"Yes, yes. Just let me turn down the rest of the lights and we can go." Aziraphale was happy to do something to make up for his negligence, even though in a way Crowley was proud the rare moments when the angel managed to be careless.

In far less time than it would have taken a normal Londoner to get from Aziraphale's shop to their destination, they arrived at Crowley's flat.

"Can I get you something to drink, angel?" Crowley took off his overcoat and hung it in the closet. He held out his hand to take Aziraphale's overcoat.

"Oh, yes. Tea is quite fine my dear." Aziraphale wasn't entirely sure what to do with his hands. It had been just a few months since he had last been here, back when they performed their ruse against their head offices. "And biscuits if you have them."

"I have anything you want," Crowley headed towards his kitchen. "Have a seat on the couch."

Aziraphale looked around at the expansive apartment. It had such an open floor plan, and had pleasing dark colors. It didn't take Crowley long to bring the refreshments, his favorite oolong tea with honey and some frosted cookies.

"Thank you, dear." The angel took a sip of the tea, perfect temperature and perfect ratio of honey. The demon always knew how to make a perfect tea.

"You're welcome, angel." Crowley had a glass of red wine for himself. "You seem a bit tense."

"Oh, yes. Well it was a long day. I'm sure after a day of rest I'll be back to normal, right as rain tomorrow."

Crowley shook his head. "There's something that I can help here."

The demon walked around to behind Aziraphale's seat. The angel watched as best as he could from the corner of his eye.

"May I?" The red haired man asked stiffly. Sometimes manners seem foreign on his tongue, but he tries to for Aziraphale's sake.

"Um, yes. Go ahead." Aziraphale was nervous, not because a demon was standing behind him, as he'd known this demon for over 6 millennia. He wasn't actually sure why he was nervous.

Crowley placed his hands on Aziraphale's shoulders and began to knead the tense muscles. The angel suddenly felt very relaxed as he worked through the tense muscles. "Oh, oh my."

The demon chuckled at how he quickly relaxed. He worked through the tense muscles in the angel's neck and shoulders, and began to work his way down his back, the blond man leaning forward to allow him better access. He frowned at something.

"Aziraphale, " he began, in a rare moment using the angel's name.

"Yes, dear?" Aziraphale was already feeling much better thanks to his companion's ministrations.

"Unfurl your wings."

Aziraphale opened his eyes and turned slowly to look at Crowley, not sure if he had heard him right. "Sorry?"

"A lot of the tension is locked in them, I can feel the tension on the connection. You don't have to, if you don't want. I just thought..."

"No, no. I don't mind, is there room here though?"

"Yes, you might need to change your position here though." Crowley gestured to the couch the angel was sitting on.

Aziraphale turned around to sit on the couch in a backwards position, and his wings unfurled. In the privacy of Crowley's apartment, there was no need to use any miracle magic to keep them hidden from mortal eyes. The expansive white wings were just as magnificent as ever. A pristine alabaster white. He gently worked at the joint that connected the wings to the angel's back. As he worked the actual toned muscles of the wings, gently working out the tenseness in them, also preening in the process; pulling loose feathers out of the expanse.

As he worked, his dearest friend let out a contented noise. One that gave Crowley pause as it was not a noise one expected to just randomly hear. It was similar to the noises Aziraphale made when eating something he found pleasant. He rolled his eyes northward to the ceiling shaking his head, grateful that the angel could not see his face.

After some time he finished with his task. The contented look on Aziraphale's face was priceless.

"Better, angel?" Crowley couldn't help but smile down at the almost sleeping man.

"You have wonderful hand's m'dear." The angel said, waving his wings away. "Practically a miracle. Where ever did you learn how to do that?"

The demon shrugged. "I took a course at some college a few decades ago. I was assigned to do some demonic temptation, so I figured what the hell?"

Aziraphale's blue eyes were half-mast. The angel rarely ever sleeps, save for a few select occasions such as averting the apocalypse and pulling the wool over their respective head office's eyes. But now it was all he could do to stay awake.

"You're welcome to crash here for the night. I'll take you home in the morning. After a bit of breakfast of course." Crowley walked to his bedroom and grabbed a spare pillow and blanket, ignoring the angel's protests of not wanting to be a burden or a bother. "It's not a bother, angel. You're as much of a welcome guest to my home as I am to yours. Sleep. You need it after today."

Aziraphale in a way was actually grateful that the demon pushed to have him spend the night. He felt bad for standing his dearest up on their date, and must find a way to make it up to him. But first, a nap.

"Sweet dreams, angel." Crowley muttered under his breath, turning down the lights and headed to his own bed.


End file.
